Gweedo Memorial Foundation partners with Virginia DMV on new teen driving safety campaign

RICHMOND, Va. (WWBT) - A new statewide effort is underway to remind teens to be safe on the roads. New parking lot signs are being delivered to every high school in Virginia.

The Gweedo Memorial Foundation says it wants to reach teens before a crash happens. The goal of the signs is to get teens to stop and think about the message.

More teen drivers are getting their licenses and hitting the road.

The Gweedo Memorial Foundation and the Virginia DMV want safety signs in every parking lot at every high school in the state. The goal is to remind teens that safety comes first.

Tammy Gweedo McGee, executive director of the Gweedo Memorial Foundation, said the signs reach teens where they are.

“This is a great idea. Let’s get teenagers exactly where they are, as they’re driving to school and away from school, whether they’re driving or they’re in a bus or they’re in their parents’ vehicles,” McGee said.

All 327 of Virginia’s high schools have had the signs delivered to them. Each one has a message: put the phones down, buckle up, don’t drive without a license, and slow down. The signs are already up at John Marshall High in Richmond.

McGee said she hopes the signs prompt teens to speak up in unsafe situations.

“Maybe that evening they’re hopping in a vehicle with someone else and they’re going to a party and that person maybe is speeding and they go, oh my gosh, I remember I’m supposed to speak up when I see things happen like this. Somebody maybe isn’t buckled up in a vehicle and they remember seeing Keeper with the buckle up sign,” McGee said.

The messages are personal for McGee. Her 16-year-old son Conner was killed in a crash by an unlicensed teen driver.

“We lose nine teenagers a day in this country. Just hear that, nine teenagers a day. And that doesn’t have to happen. It didn’t have to happen to my son and it doesn’t have to happen to anyone else’s,” McGee said.

McGee said the mission won’t stop here.

“We’re going to go back to sleep and get another great idea, and we’re just going to continue to work to save other people until I get to see my baby again,” McGee said.